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In a letter dated 31 March 2025, the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) expressed its concerns and interests to the Office of the US Trustee relating to the bankruptcy proceedings involving 23andMe Holding Company. 23andMe came into prominence over the past few years due to its genetic testing services that allowed it to accumulate millions of sensitive personal information of its consumers, including genetic information, health information, ancestry and genealogy information, payment information, among others. The FTC claims that any bankruptcy-related sale or transfer involving 23andMe users’ personal information should be subject to the representations made by the company, including commitments to data privacy and protection, and data security. Further, the purchaser of the data assets should expressly agree to adhere to and be bound by such commitments.
Kenya recently launched its national AI strategy roadmap for 2025-2030 that focuses on several core pillars: AI digital infrastructure, data and AI governance, AI research, innovation and commercialization. Aimed at making Kenya a regional leader in AI research and development, the strategy reflects Kenya’s mission of being “architects of [their] digital destiny” instead of being a mere spectator. In the strategy, Kenya also plans on building infrastructures, such as data centers and semiconductor manufacturing facilities, to support the five-year plan.
As a result of OpenAI’s release of a new image generator, powered by GPT-40, social media platforms have been inundated with images that uses a filter reminiscent of the works of Studio Ghibli, a Japanese animation company co-founded by animator and filmmaker Hayao Miyazaki. Studio Ghibli and Miyazaki have won many accolades for their animated works. The trend is especially controversial given Miyazaki’s apparent abhorrence over generative AI and his passionate belief in the power of art created by humans. In a video uploaded years ago and have been recirculated in response to the social media trend, Miyazaki felt that machine-generated art “is an insult to life itself.”
Immigration and free speech advocates have raised concerns over the proposal by US immigration officials to collect social media handles from people applying for citizenship, green cards and other benefits. The advocates claim that the proposal seeks to cover people already in the US legally and have already been vetted extensively. The immigration officials, on the other hand, argue that the purpose of the proposal is to “strengthen fraud detection, prevent identity theft, and support the enforcement of rigorous screening and vetting measures.” However, the proposal comes on the heels of recent events where the administration is detaining people and revoking student visas for joining and participating in campus protests.
NYU is facing at least 10 class action lawsuits after it has been the subject of a data breach wherein a hacker leaked files claimed to show personal information of past university applicants. The complaints claim that NYU failed to comply with the national standards for cybersecurity which resulted in the mishandling of personal information of the students, which could potentially expose the applicants to risk of identity theft, among others.
(Compiled by Student Fellow Reeneth B. Santos)